NAʻI AUPUNI EXTENDS VOTING DEADLINE TO DEC. 21

HONOLULU – Na‘i Aupuni, the Native Hawaiian organization with a mission to establish a path to Native Hawaiian self-determination, announced today it is extending the deadline to vote to December 21.

“Because voters may not have cast their ballots over concerns and questions on the recent U.S. Supreme Court’s (SCOTUS) decision to temporarily stop the vote count, we are extending the voting deadline to December 21, midnight Hawaii time,” said Bill Meheula, legal counsel for Na‘i Aupuni.

The SCOTUS decision temporarily stayed the vote count and certification of the elected delegates, but did not stop voting.

“While we can immediately notify those who provided their email addresses to Election-America that the voting period is extended, it will take longer to effectively provide notice to mail-only voters, so we are extending the deadline by three weeks to provide time for voters to receive our notice and to vote,” he said. “As we await a decision by SCOTUS, we strongly encourage those who have not yet voted to cast their ballots.”

Na‘i Aupuni is confident the court will find in their favor. “We feel strongly that the Supreme Court will agree with Judge Seabright that the plaintiffs are not entitled to enjoin our election. We urge voters to use this extension to participate in this opportunity to unify Hawaiians,” Meheula added.

Na‘i Aupuni also wanted to remind voters the protest by some against the ‘Aha process are based on unfounded fears of loss of the ceded land and any chance of independence. “Nothing is predetermined about the ‘Aha. This is an opportunity to talk about all forms of government, including independence and any recommendation will be taken back to the voters,” said Meheula.